ProgBlog

The Guardian newspaper occasionally includes a reference to prog - I suspect a couple of the writers are closet fans - but I was surprised when an edition earlier this month had two references: an article about Kate Bush and another about how rock musicians shouldn't have dabbled with disco...

By ProgBlog, Oct 18 2018 07:02PM

I’ve just finished reading Will Romano’s analysis Close to the Edge: How Yes’s Masterpiece Defined Prog Rock (Backbeat Books, 2017) which deals in the minutiae of how the album came to be made, with input from many of the participants, both musical and non-musical. Apart from being a really enjoyable read for a fanatic like me, i.e. someone who believes Close to the Edge is not only the definitive progressive rock album but also the best album, ever, it touches on the impact the record had on other musicians and some (American) celebrities, and raises the question of inter-band rivalry.

The idea of ‘rivalry’ between the original cohort of progressive rock bands is something I originally thought about not long after discovering the genre in 1972 after hearing Close to the Edge for the first time, though in the context of fan affiliation. The Nice were the second band I listened to, who by that stage had already been disbanded for two years, followed by Pink Floyd and Emerson Lake & Palmer and then hosts of others. At some time in the early 70s I must have read that Hawkwind fans didn’t like Yes music (though I’ve never believed Hawkwind were a progressive rock band) and, from a personal perspective, I don’t appear to have had any inclination to listen to Genesis, based on some non-specific prejudice or resentment, until one of my friends bought a copy of the compilation LP Charisma Keyboards (released April 1974) which included the Nursery Cryme track The Fountain of Salmacis; then I was hooked. This sudden appreciation of Genesis also allowed me to view the entire genre as something inclusive with myriad bands all bringing something of value to the progressive rock world.

With two showman-like stars in Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson, the music papers of the time gossiped about Yes-ELP rivalry which at the time I interpreted as a suggestion of enmity. Will Romano covers this in his book but the two keyboard players themselves have elsewhere written about and discussed their friendship, with Wakeman explaining how the two used to lunch together and laugh about their perceived competitiveness, with fans debating which of them was the better. The explanation put to Romano by Emerson was that any success of Yes would spur ELP on to greater things, whether that was song concepts or live sound. Wakeman has pointed out that the two friends came from different stylistic backgrounds, Wakeman himself from classical and Emerson from jazz, so that any ‘who is the best?’ argument boils down to the listener’s preferred style. In the October edition of Prog magazine (Prog 91), Emerson pips Wakeman in a readers’ poll for the best keyboard player...

It was fairly evident, even to a naive youth in 1972 or 73, that intra-band relationships could involve enough tension to tear the band apart; this probably being when I came across the risible term ‘creative differences’ for the first time. A review of the history of Yes, even at that moment in the early 70s, was enough to demonstrate the Machiavellian designs of certain band members intent on reaching their personal goals at whatever cost. I would come to realise that this behaviour wasn’t restricted to Yes, though later versions of the group could be equally brutal; it was sometimes difficult to discern whether ego or musical direction was a cause of conflict. On the other hand, gifted musicians left groups for perfectly understandable reasons like illness, stage-fright or an inability to reconcile family life with constant touring. However, it seemed to me that the overall scene was one of relative stability: Bruford had already left Yes when Close to the Edge was released; Pink Floyd had long put the dropping of Syd Barrett behind them and whatever personality differences were simmering under the surface wouldn’t rise until the end of the decade; the ELP juggernaut rolled on; Genesis had formed the classic quintet and were yet to begin shedding members; Gentle Giant had a settled line-up; Jethro Tull also had a settled line-up. Focus may not have been the most stable of bands, with a rhythm section that was frequently reinventing itself, and there were seismic changes in the pre-Larks’ Tongues in Aspic King Crimson, played out before I got into them, but the one glaring exception to the seeming constancy of the movement, at least among those represented by the music that I owned or listened to, was the flux within the Canterbury scene.

Soft Machinery - from Pete Frame's first volume of Rock Family Trees

From a progressive rock fan’s point of view, the first major upheaval I felt was Wakeman leaving Yes for a solo career in 1974 and his eventual replacement, Patrick Moraz, breaking up Refugee. Their eponymous debut, one of my top five albums of all time, came out three months before Wakeman’s split and based on the quality of Refugee, I could only rue the loss of such a promising musical force. With the decommissioning of the 60’s – 70’s King Crimson in 1974 and the self-imposed temporary withdrawal of Yes, ELP and Pink Floyd from the scene in 1975, a number of musicians were left to occupy themselves outside of a group context, some releasing solo material with assistance from quite diverse sources. That meant that any rivalry that may have existed disappeared in an atmosphere of collaboration.

Friendships were formed when bands toured with one another and it wasn’t terribly unusual to come across a fellow act paying in the same city while touring; mutual respect between musicians is frequently quoted in biographies, creating a network of potential players for a ‘solo’ work. I mapped this network, based on musicians featured on albums in my record collection from the late 60s through the 70s and including two from the 80s, for a short article ‘What is Progressive rock?’ which accompanied a self-compiled 2CD set presented to a friend who was rediscovering prog in 2004. Though hardly comprehensive, it did indicate that even within a narrow range of groups, there was a healthy degree of interconnectedness.

Prog connections - in its original colours!

I’ve not attempted to update or redraw this chart because the post-millennium revival of prog has resulted in an explosion of new bands, the reformation of old bands (sometimes with an extensive cast of new talent) and even instances where the assistance of an established musician is enlisted to help out with a less well-established act (João Felipe’s Amber Foil project enlisted the help of Manuel Cordoso, formerly of premier Portuguese 70’s symphonic prog band Tantra, who added guitar parts and produced the An Invitation EP.) Also, the original chart only covered three non-UK bands, Focus and Trace (Netherlands) and PFM (Italy). Any new review of the information would have to include more Italian bands to reflect my growing collection of progressivo Italiano, which I have recently discovered have their own extensive networks. There’s even a series of ‘supergroups’ with their own identity though they exist simultaneously with the groups that act as the main vehicle for the individual musicians.

The swelling number of connections between groups has to be due primarily to the increase in numbers of album releases and the additional bands that have appeared in the last 45 years, but the interest in the genre following a period when ‘prog’ was a dirty word seems to have had an unexpected positive effect, bolstered by Prog magazine and books from people like Will Romano, allowing the movement to become a large, happy family, almost encouraging bands to offer guest appearance slots to other musicians. This extended family idea, where guesting on different albums or joining a touring band, possibly in addition to being in their own group, facilitates earning a living as a professional musician. The days of the multimillion-selling prog album are over, along with self-imposed tax exile status, a huge advance for the next release and limitless studio time, so unless there’s another income stream, even if that means playing in the backing band for some pop act, it’s unlikely that music alone can pay the bills.

To challenge myself, I've begun the October ProgBlog album playlist based on the notion of interconnectedness. I've chosen direct connections between artists on a particular release, using an artist once only for a link to another album. For example, Patrick Moraz’s i features Jeff Berlin on bass, so the next album in the sequence also features Berlin and the next link is through a different musician on that record. This exercise predominantly features 70’s music but some of the LPs covered are from more recent incarnations of 70’s bands. The results will be available for scrutiny at the beginning of November...

By ProgBlog, Sep 12 2017 08:35AM

In an uncertain world, it’s very easy to surround yourself with the familiar, anchored to comforts which, for whatever reason, confer a sense of safety and reassurance. I’d like to think that I look upon on life as something of an adventure, searching for slightly unusual or enriching experiences. One of these was eight years ago, when my wife, son and I took advantage of close family living in New Zealand and embarked upon a two-week long tour of the country spanning the southern hemisphere transition of winter into spring, August to September. On my fiftieth birthday, a couple of days before we were due to return to the UK, Daryl and I jumped from the Auckland Sky Tower (and got the lift back up to do it again.)

This base-jump by wire is completely safe but when you’re weighed beforehand to calculate the forces required for deceleration and your harness is checked by a second individual, your mind does tend to stray towards irrationality: You’re falling from 192m and reach speeds of 85km/h. It’s an incredible thrill and it’s all over in around 10 seconds; on the second go we were encouraged to begin by falling off backwards!

Auckland's Sky Tower

Rationalising and calculating risk, as well as knowing your own physical limits are essential if you’re attempting something which appears dangerous. A long time ago I used to rock climb, nothing spectacular but involving both risk from the activity itself and also from the relative isolation should something untoward happen, this being long before the advent of mobile phones. A walking accident in the winter of 1976, slipping on snow while descending an improvised route from Great Gable in the Lake District as the weather deteriorated to such an extent that it was genuinely unsafe to continue, battered my confidence. I slipped, tumbled and fell about 120m down a scree slop where the pitch was such that there were plenty of rocks sticking up out of the snow cover. It’s remarkable that I didn’t break any bones but I did spend a couple of nights in hospital for observation because I’d lost consciousness at some stage during my ungainly descent. The A&E personnel thought I’d been involved on a motorcycle crash; it was common for local youths to buy motorbikes with their first pay check and almost as common for them to be involved in a serious incident within the following week. I suspect it’s the isolation that concerns me because it didn’t cause me to be afraid of heights; it does make South Side of the Sky resonate it little bit more. I’m just a bit more careful when I approach something potentially hazardous and more critical of the risks and benefits.

South Side of the Sky

Endorphins, named so because they’re natural, morphine-like molecules (endo- means ‘from within’), are produced in the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. Their main function is to inhibit the transmission of pain signals but they also have a positive, euphoric effect; they are released in large quantities during pleasurable moments such as during extreme sports, during sex (especially during orgasm), eating chocolate, and when we listen to good music.

When it comes to prog, I tend to play safe and listen to albums from the ‘golden era’, preferring symphonic prog, keyboard-layered with its roots in classical music and jazz. The modern stuff that I like, possibly best exemplified by the current crop of Italian bands like Il Tempio delle Clessidre, Panther & C., Cellar Noise and Melting Clock, and also ESP from the UK, play music which has a grounding in classic progressive rock of the 70s. Along with jazz rock (last week’s playlist includes Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia (1978) and Deep End (1976) by Isotope on original vinyl), jazz and some classical music, this is basically my comfort zone. I do own some Magma releases, the classics Mekanïk Destruktïẁ Kommandöh (1973) and Köhntarkösz (1974) on CD plus what I thought might be the most accessible LP Attahk (1978), which I bought first sometime in the early 80s; I still find all three hard going. My older brother Tony also tries to keep me on my toes. Though our tastes overlap to a considerable extent he likes some rather uncompromising modern jazz and bought me Louis Sclavis’ L'imparfait des langues (2007) for my birthday 10 years ago. The music, originally commissioned for a performance in Monaco in 2005 cancelled at short notice due to the death of Prince Rainier III, was a deliberate attempt to challenge Sclavis’ compositional habits, using players from different backgrounds with whom he’d not worked before. The album was recorded in one day.

Magma collection

More recently I’ve been extending the boundaries of what I’ll listen to. I’m not particularly a fan of Hawkwind but I did like some of Robert Calvert’s ideas (I was really disappointed that his stage adaptation of Hype was cancelled within a week of opening – as I stood outside the theatre’s closed doors) and I finally got hold of a copy of Quark Strangeness and Charm (1977) on vinyl, even though it’s outside my normal listening habits. I’ve previously been dismissive of Roger Waters’ solo efforts having seen his The Wall and The Final Cut follow-up The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking in concert and owned a bootleg recording of the LP on C-90 which I wasn’t over-enamoured with. I thought the music descended from the widescreen of mid-period Floyd to narrow-focus, basic rock built around a riff that sounded as though it came direct from The Wall. However, I bought a copy of Is this the life we really want? because of the sentiment, knowing that Waters is a master of concepts and believes in superlative production values, left in the extremely capable hands of Nigel Godrich on this latest release. I also procured the quirky folk-prog-world music re-release of Syd Arthur’s On An On (2012) which is beautifully written and played, but not what might have been expected of me!

Having recently become semi-retired again seems to have loosened some of my listening inhibitions and whereas I’d look at an album in my youth, without hearing it in its entirety and rating it highly, I’d never own it. I’m now more open to recommendation and even experimentation, buying albums which I probably should have owned many years ago without listening to them beforehand. Sometimes I’m disappointed. So what? Yet there’s still one genre that I’ve not fully embraced, prog metal, though I’m coming round to see the blurring of distinction between the prog and the metal, even accepting an invitation to review the latest release by Texan heavy prog/prog metal outfit Process of Illumination (see my album review of Radiant Memory here.) I was lent a copy of Opeth’s Heritage (2011) by friend and Steven Wilson fan Neil Jellis because it forms part of what Wilson, who engineered the album, described as a trilogy, the other components being the collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt resulting in Storm Corrosion (2012) and Wilson’s second solo album Grace for Drowning (2011). Heritage contains some decent music, the first full departure from the band’s metal roots and fortunately dispenses with Åkerfeldt’s trademark death metal growl. His singing voice isn’t a million miles away from Ian Anderson’s during the classic Tull period and the compositions steer clear of the frantic, technical playing and heavy distortion I associate with metal. The title-track opener is a pleasant acoustic piano exercise and The Devil’s Orchard, like much of the rest of the album references the sounds of 70s prog – the organ work is quite rewarding, there’s plenty of electric piano and there are some tricky guitar riffs. The introduction to I feel the Dark could almost be Jethro Tull then roughly half way through the track it switches with the introduction of slow, crunchy power chords which in turn give way to some Mellotron. It never goes overtly ambient but I think I detect the Steven Wilson influence. Slither is probably the least interesting track as it’s like a race, with little development until an acoustic guitar passage which lasts until the fade. Nepenthe and Häxprocess display the players' sensitivity with good use of electric piano and some adventurous rhythmic patterns. Famine has flute, effects, gentle piano chords (c.f. Heritage) and gives way to fast guitar and Hammond. So what’s not to like? I think it’s an admirable effort with decent pitch, tempo and instrumental variation and you can’t fault the playing or the production; it just doesn’t grab me. Similarly I was recommended some Il Bacio della Medusa and bought the Black Widow records re-release of the eponymous debut (BWR, 2006) and bought a number of CDs by Peruvian prog band Flor de Loto when I was in Lima, only to be disappointed by the heavy edge – it wasn’t what I was expecting from either band. I’ve also got a download of The Gift of Anxiety (2013) by Sylvium and the Sky Architect CD A Dying Man’s Hymn (2011) neither of which are awful, start to finish metal by any stretch of the imagination but equally, neither is particularly inspiring.

Perhaps the greatest insult of all to my former listening habits was my recent acquisition of Kansas' Point of Know Return (1977) which I'm almost reluctant to admit I quite like. It's hardly up there with the greats but it's a decent effort, bought second-hand on spec. My comfort zone may be expanding but the more metal you get with your prog metal, the more reluctant I am to push those boundaries further. I’ll stick to the proto-prog metal of Red, thank you.

By ProgBlog, Jul 23 2017 12:25PM

The port in Genoa, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, is over 1000 years old but has been reinvented during the last 20, thanks in large part to local starchitect Renzo Piano. The facilities, a mixture of new build and renovated historic buildings include an aquarium, harbour offices, a viewing platform known as the Bigo and a 20m diameter crystal sphere, the Bolla (‘Bubble’) on a floating platform containing the largest collection of ferns in the world. The matrix of steel poles which support the Bigo, inspired by the cranes on the old wharfs, also support the membrane above a performance space, the Piazza delle Feste which is where the Porto Antico Prog Fest is held.

Piazza delle Feste from the Bigo (Daryl Page)

It may be entirely by accident but the reinvention of the old port has parallels with progressive rock. In the early 70s before the redevelopment of the harbour area, Genoa was home to some of the well-known names in progressivo Italiano: I New Trolls; Delirium; Gleemen; Garybaldi; Latte e Miele; Osage Tribe; Nuova Idea, and the recent resurgence in the genre has some very strong Genovese connections, from the Fabio Zuffanti projects including Maschera di Cera, Finisterre and Höstsonaten to other now well-established acts like Ancient Veil, Il Tempio delle Clessidre and La Coscienza di Zeno.

The second Porto Antico Prog Fest, organised by local record label and record shop Black Widow, was held over the weekend of 15th – 17th July, with live performances on the Friday and Saturday and, alongside famous artists, featured some of the emerging or less well-known but nevertheless incredible local talent, including Melting Clock on Friday and Panther & C. on Saturday.

Melting Clock was something of a revelation. Fronted by amazing vocalist Emanuela Vedana, the group who also comprise Sandro Amadei on keyboards, Stefano Amadei on guitar, Alessandro Bosca on bass, Simone Caffè on guitar and Francesco Fiorito on drums, have not yet released a record but they performed some wonderful, highly accomplished symphonic progressivo Italiano with a nice full, well-balanced sound. The stand-out track for me was a piece called Antares with Mellotron strings and harmony vocals and plenty of musical drama, although the entire set was thoroughly enjoyable. They may have concluded with an excellent rendition of Firth of Fifth but their music doesn’t seem to be directly influenced by the UK prog scene, it’s seeped in the expressive, lyrical style of RPI. It’s well worth checking out their music at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu4J-y-P_JnFFXtHiu2kPfw

Melting Clock

Mad Fellaz hail from Bassano del Grappa in the Veneto and though they say they were influenced by classic UK and Italian prog bands along with more recent exponents of the genre, the octet (Luca Brighi, vocals; Enrico Brunelli, keyboards; Marco Busatto, drums; Paolo Busatto, guitar; Ruggero Burigo, guitar; Carlo Passuello, bass; Lorenzo Todesco, percussion; and Rudy Zilio, flute, clarinet, keyboards) played complex tunes which came across as a blend of Zappa and Canterbury. It certainly wasn’t music that you could fall asleep to, with unpredictable twists and turns somehow all fitting together brilliantly. I was reminded of some of the bands I’d seen at Prog Résiste in Soignies in 2014 which seemed to specialise in RIO acts – uncompromising, challenging and really enjoyable.

Il Cerchio d’Oro were around in the 70s but never managed to release an album of original material until reforming in the 00s. I was looking forward to this appearance because I’d read some good things about Il Viaggio di Colombo (2008) and Dedalo e Icaro (2013) and there is another album in the pipeline. For this version of the band, the original members Gino (drums) and Giuseppe Terribile (bass) and Franco Piccolini (keyboards) were augmented by Massimo Cesare (guitar), Piuccio Pradal (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Simone Piccolini (keyboards), with guest vocalist Pino Ballarini (ex-Il Rovescio della Medaglia) and guest drummer Paolo Siani (ex-Nuova Idea.) The compositions were well structured but I felt there was less complexity than there might have been – some of the singles they released in the 70s weren’t actually prog. It was still an enjoyable performance and the appearance of the two guest musicians was warmly appreciated by the crowd.

One of the main reasons for attending was seeing Delirium on the bill, another local band who formed in 1970 and whose debut Dolce Acqua (1971) and third album Delirium III – Viaggio Negli Arcipelaghi del Tempo (1974) are considered classics of the genre; the first album is largely acoustic with an Italian folk influence and features Ivano Fossati on flute and vocals and the set at the Prog Fest contained a number of songs from this release; Delirium III is highly regarded and full-on symphonic prog though despite the absence of Fossati, who left to pursue a solo career before the second, less successful record to be replaced by Englishman Martin Grice on flute and sax, there are obvious sonic comparisons between III and Dolce Acqua, especially on opening track Il Dono. Grice has performed with Fabio Zuffanti in the Z Band and I’ve seen him at a number of gigs in the city. The present line-up, reconvened in 2015 after a hiatus of six years for the album L’Era della Menzogna features Grice, Fabio Chigini on bass, Alessandro Corvaglia on vocals (another Zuffanti connection, La Maschera di Cera), Michele Cusato on guitar, Alfredo Vandresi on drums and original member Ettore Vigo on keyboards. A very enjoyable set.

Delirium IPG

It’s pertinent that he headline act on Friday, Gens de la Lune, followed Delirium on stage because they feature Francis Décamps, formerly of French prog superstars Ange, and Ange’s crowning glory was Au-Delà Du Délire (Beyond Delirium, 1974.) I started collecting Ange CDs whilst on holiday in August 2004 from what is now Bazoom BD Musique in Auray and, not knowing which best represented their output, decided that Le Cimetière Des Arlequins was most suitable based on its year of release (1973.) I was really pleased that I detected Aujourd'Hui C'Est La Fête Chez L'Apprenti Sorcier during the Ange medley because despite the stop-start expressionist nature of the music and the theatrical delivery of Décamps (in grease paint and long leather coat, performing some serious tongue flicking) and vocalist Jean Philippe Suzan who wore a Venetian plague mask and bowler hat during one song, there wasn’t too much of Ange in evidence. Though touching on prog metal at times where the ensemble got very heavy, the music was pretty varied with more gentle moments such as guitarist Damien Chopard performing an acoustic guitar solo, and the use of a theremin and a Haken Continuum Fingerboard by Décamps. One of the highlights was an unusual percussion duet with Suzan and drummer Cédric Mells. Bassist Mathieu Desbarats was really solid throughout. They were a very good way to end the first day, finishing their set at nearly half past midnight.

The second day began with Panther & C. performing a very accomplished set of melodic symphonic prog. Their latest album Il Giusto Equilibrio was reviewed on ProgBlog earlier this month http://progblog.co.uk/the-blogs/4583484660/Panther-C./11189638 and as I’d only streamed that album and listened to their debut release L’Epoca di un Altro on YouTube, I thought I ought to do the decent thing and buy both CDs from the Black Widow stand.

Mr Punch

I didn’t get to see the full Mr Punch performance and saw none of The Mugshots because I’d booked a table at a local restaurant, Le Rune. What I did see of Mr Punch, a Marillion tribute act, was pretty good as they played through Misplaced Childhood. Featuring Alessandro Corvaglia for the second time that weekend, delivering a fairly convincing Fish vocal and barefoot, just for the shooting stars, he was joined on stage by another link to Fabio Zuffanti, Luca Scherani (who plays keyboards with La Coscienza di Zeno and Höstsonaten), plus Marcella Arganese (guitar), Roberto Leoni (drums) and Guglielmo Mariotti Pirovano (bass.) I returned after dinner to see the Arabs in Aspic set and was impressed by their brand of prog which tended towards the heavy end of the spectrum but which contained sufficient melody, variation and surprises to suit someone more accustomed to symphonic prog. The Norwegian quartet sang and communicated to the crowd in excellent English, reminding us that we were united by progressive rock and when they’d finished, I was a little bemused that they weren’t helped by a group of roadies to clear their equipment. In fact, guitarist Jostein Smeby stood in the shadows stage left and began to tune one of his instruments because along with the rest of the band (Erik Paulsen, bass; Eskil Nyhus, drums; Stig Arve Jorgenson, keyboards) he was part of the backing group for Saturday headliner and space-rock legend Nik Turner.

I have to admit I didn’t stay for the whole of Turner’s performance but I did watch them tick off old Hawkwind favourites Motorhead, Silver Machine and Master of the Universe. My Hawkwind collection is limited to Space Ritual, Silver Machine and Quark Strangeness and Charm (the latter bought from Black Widow Records earlier this year) and though I’d never call them prog, there are moments when it’s appropriate to turn up the amplifier and blast out some driving riff tracks like Brainstorm and OrgoneAccumulator or the electronics and spoken-word Sonic Attack. I think Quark Strangeness and Charm is a much more coherent effort than preceding albums but I do feel Nik Turner’s contribution to the early material (he left the band after Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music in 1976) is a key part of the attraction of their music and it was a real pleasure to see him on-stage, backed by a group of exceptional musicians.

The success of the festival was due to a combination of factors but the organisational nous of Massimo Gasperini and the Black Widow team and the international network of gifted musicians associated with the Black Widow roster were vitally important. It helped too, that the weather was amazing and the Piazza delle Feste provides a really good performance space. My one minor gripe was an over-zealous security guard but that was swiftly resolved by the organising team.

From the old bands to the new, Genoa is the centre of progressivo Italiano; I can’t wait to go back.

By ProgBlog, May 21 2017 08:21PM

Yes, another trip to Genoa. The weekend had to be carefully planned: on call on the Thursday hastily rearranged; gig on Friday; Crystal Palace playing their last home game of the season with kick off at noon on Sunday...

My wife and I left on the 07.10 flight from Gatwick on Thursday morning and returned on the 13:25 flight on Saturday. It was a bit of a whirlwind stay but rather successful. Susan doesn’t come to the gigs so we spend as much of the remaining time getting around. Ideally we’d have been able to leave on the Sunday but the importance of the football match, with both Palace and opponents Hull involved in a relegation scrap, it was a game I was not prepared to miss.

After checking in at the hotel, the first stop was for coffee in a local bar, Caffé del Sivori before moving on for a bite to eat. We were then able to wander into the historical centre where, among the narrow lanes and small piazza, you can find the second-hand record, CD and book stalls. This was where I bought the 1997 Ulisse and the 2000 Serendipity CDs by PFM, along with Anthony Phillip’s Wise after the Event. The main shopping attraction however, was the small but perfectly formed Black Widow record shop in Via del Campo; specialising in progressive rock, psychedelia, heavy rock, ‘dark’ prog and folk. It turns out that the founders of the shop Massimo Gasperini, Pino Pintabona and Alberto Santamaria, used to come to Beanos in Croydon to buy stock and that the reputation of the store within the prog community is really high; the Prog Archives website published an interview with Massimo in 2010, remarking that he’s a friendly guy and I concur - I’ve had lengthy chats with both Massimo and Alberto on the occasions I’ve visited and can honestly say that their generosity, knowledge and graciousness are boundless. It’s easy to form a connection when you share a passion for the same kind of music, despite my lack of Italian.

You might wonder why such a small shop has such a big influence but part of the reason is because Genoa is at the heart of the current prog scene in Italy, with the emergence of a number of new bands seeped in the traditions of 70s progressivo Italiano, plus a renewed interest in the original bands, some of the most influential of which were based in Genoa (New Trolls, Delirium, Latte e Miele, Nuovo Idea, Garybaldi.) This historic connection must have influenced the foundation of the Centro Studi per il Progressive Italiano (in Genoa’s Pontedecimo district) who aim to create a comprehensive archive of material relating to Italian prog and build a complete database of material, but also study the material at a musicological level. The other part of the explanation is that Black Widow also operates as a record label, promoting new talent and, where possible, reissuing old classics. They play an important role in the live music scene, being instrumental in the Fiera della Musica which had been held in Genoa until the area, with buildings by local architect Renzo Piano, was scheduled for redevelopment. (Susan and I visited an exhibition of competitors for this redevelopment and, rather to my delight, one entrant included the cover of Atom Heart Mother in their presentation.)

Black Widow were putting on a Metal festival that weekend, though I was far more interested in their Prog Festival to be held in the old harbour from 14th – 16th July, featuring local and nearby acts Delirium and Il Cerchio d’Oro, prog from France and Norway and Nik Turner, formerly of Hawkwind, headlining on the Saturday.

I walked away from the shop with a selection of British and Italian prog on vinyl: The first Saint Just album (rereleased by AMS on green vinyl); Inferno by Metamorfosi, Acquiring the Taste by Gentle Giant, Future Legends by Fruupp, plus a second-hand copy of Quark, Strangeness and Charm by Hawkwind.

Daytime on Friday was spent in Alessandria, visiting the UNESCO World Heritage listed Cittadella, the most important hexagonal fort in Europe due the integrity of the site, though our access was restricted because there seemed to be some event being set up. We visited the W Dabliu record store but I didn’t buy anything there, however I did come across the first three editions of Prog Italia, bundled into one, for €12.99 which I had to buy, having spent the last three trips to Italy looking for copies of the magazine.

It’s become increasingly obvious to me that Friday night is the time for prog in this part of the country because the excursion had been organised to see a couple of bands, playing on a Friday, at la Claque; Finisterre and Ancient Veil.

I’d seen Finisterre as recently as the 31st March at the Z Fest in Milan, but I enjoyed this performance more. Maybe it was the theatre itself, with tables organised like a club rather than crowding the stage at Milan’s Legend Club (and where the space on stage was divided by supporting columns), or maybe it was that the recent exposure to the band had made me more aware of the material. Despite coming from Genova and performing around the world, Finisterre hadn’t played in their home city since 2004, so it must have been a rather emotional return. Their set list comprised of material from three of their four albums Finisterre, In Ogni Luogo and La Meccanica Naturale: Tempi Moderni, Anaporaz; La Maleducazione; Macinaaqua, Macinaluna; La Perfezione; Ninive, In Ogni Luogo and Coro Elettrico performed as a mini-suite with Edmondo Romano from Ancient Veil as guest; Ode al Mare; La Fine; Incipit; Phaedra; with chat, announcements and introductions made alternatively by Sefano Marelli and Fabio Zuffanti. The musicianship was sublime and despite the absence of anything from In Limine, my favourite Finisterre album, the set was perfect. If I had to make any complaint, it would be that from where I was seated, fairly close to the front and centre, I couldn’t hear Boris Valle’s keyboards too well but the overall sound was clear.

There was a poignant moment when Zuffanti introduced Davide Laricchia, the original vocalist for the band, to perform Macinaacqua, for which he wrote the words but left before he could appear on the first album. This track encapsulates the experimental approach of the group, interspersing classical motifs into some riff-driven prog, Marelli guitar effects and Agostino Macor electronics. The delivery was over-the-top theatrics along the lines of Alex Harvey, though the melodic denouement hinted at 70s The Enid, coalescing into classic Zuffanti material; Macor even used a xylophone on this piece. Their superb set ended with a medley of prog classics; a little bit of Interstellar Overdrive, 21st Century Schizoid Man and the Hackett-friendly portion of Firth of Fifth.

I first came across Ancient Veil after seeing an article about Eris Pluvia, and received Rings of Earthly Light as a Christmas present in 2012. Released in 1991, six years after the band formed, this is an uplifting piece of neo-prog which at times, thanks to the woodwind and reeds of Edmondo Romano, borders on prog-folk. The upbeat lyrics, all in English, and the calm, warm voice of guitarist Alessandro Serri help to give it an almost New Age feel but there are odd time signatures and sudden changes that would suit the most ardent of prog fans. Eris Pluvia disbanded in 1992 and Ancient Veil was formed by Alessandro Serri, Romano, with Fabio Serri on keyboards and they released one eponymous record in 1995, with music very much in the same vein as Eris Pluvia. Ancient Veil reappeared this year with bassist Massimo Palermo and drummer Marco Fuliano and the CD I am Changing. Remarkably, this presentation of their new album was the band’s first ever live performance and though there were a couple of hitches, technical and human, the audience was understandably forgiving. The material was set out in three blocks, commencing with The Ancient Veil, followed by Rings of Earthly Light and concluding with I am Changing but the material flowed seamlessly. I bought a copy of the CD during the interval between bands so I had not heard any of the new songs; I’d also not been able to lay my hands on a copy of The Ancient Veil but it would not be unfair to say that the composers have a distinctive style. Maybe their most recent material contains a hint of wistfulness? They also introduced a guest from the past, Valeria Caucino, who sang on Eris Pluvia’s Sell My Feelings and also appears on the new album, on the song Chime of the Times. And, just as Romano had accompanied Finisterre on stage, Zuffanti and Marelli returned the favour during In the Rising Mist, making four acoustic guitarists (along with Serri and drummer Fuliano); this summed up the camaraderie of not only the musicians gracing the stage that evening, but the Italian progressive rock community as a whole.

What made the evening special was a combination of great music and a sense of history; the return of Finisterre to Genoa after a considerable absence, and the first gig by a band who have long been praised in prog circles – a remarkable double bill and immensely enjoyable. I’m already preparing for my next trip...

Postscript

Palace beat Hull 4-0 on an afternoon basked in sunlight, securing their tenure in the Premier Leaguue for another season. What a fantastic few days

By ProgBlog, Feb 19 2017 07:51PM

The reappearance of Prog magazine, putting an end to a period of uncertainty for the staff, is most welcome and its unchanged format is very reassuring. I rarely get the chance to sit down and read it in one go so it normally takes a week or so for me to get through the articles I find interesting – no, I don’t read every word because some of the featured artists are from beyond the spectrum of my listening habits. I also have to balance Prog with other reading material: my physical copy of The Guardian which is mostly but not entirely completed on my commute to-and-from work; the occasional essay written by a colleague (Describe and discuss the categories of solid organ allograft rejection and the means by which they may be limited, and Describe the structure of MHC encoded antigens and their role in the presentation of peptides to T cells); and books received at Christmas or on birthdays. I’m currently struggling with William Morris’ News from Nowhere which, despite its socialist message and relative brevity is heavy going, meaning sessions are interspersed with getting through the prog-related literature that appeared under the Christmas tree.

I’ve already written about Yes is the Answer (and reviewed it on Amazon) but I’ve also completed Time and Some Words: The Anthology of Prog Rock Quotations 1969-1976 by Dave Thompson and just started Yes and Philosophy - The Spiritual and Philosophical Dimensions of Yes Music by Scott O’Reilly. Thompson’s quotations are frequently devoid of context or else have context imposed upon them by virtue of the chapter title; some are from author interviews and come with a degree of perspective. As much as I enjoyed reading the words of wisdom of my musical heroes, some of which I’d probably originally seen in the NME or Melody Maker in the mid 70s, the inclusion of pithy or equally, convoluted remarks from musicians I’ve never heard of and some who really aren’t progressive rock at all, ran contrary to the title. It may be that Thompson, a Brit who has lived in the US for some time who has far broader tastes than me, has simply over-estimated the true size of the genre during its first, golden period but at the risk of setting myself up in a glass house, I’m a firm believer in accuracy. There’s nothing revelatory in the book as we’ve moved on over 45 years since the first of the contributors aired an opinion which means that there’s been plenty of opportunity for their thoughts to be fully analysed in the intervening period; Thompson may have reasoned that the recent rise in prog-related publications was a good opportunity to knock out another book. It’s too early for me to say what I think about O’Reilly’s effort but the posted reviews are ambivalent or worse, the best of them criticising the typographical errors (a complaint I could raise against Thompson’s book where it appears that the grammar check has been deactivated.) I like the idea of a philosophical study of Yes, adding to the work of Bill Martin (a professor of philosophy) whose Music of Yes: Structure and Vision in Progressive Rock has a logical, analytical approach which draws in political and sociological strands.

It’s almost as though my reading habits have been totally inverted. As a youth and during my early adulthood I read a fairly wide range of novels, from the classics to fantasy. I’ve previously written about the links between the authors I’d been reading and progressive rock but at the time there were no books about the genre. I’d only buy one of the weekly music papers if it had something about a band or artist I was interested in, so there were less than six years, from September 1972 when I first heard Close to the Edge to summer 1978, when there was any reasonable coverage of the genre; even the last two years of this period were becoming dominated by punk and new wave. I don’t read very many novels any more (the last, apart from my current tribulations with News from Nowhere, was The Vorrh by Brian Catlin) but there seems to be a new wave of literature relating to prog, of variable standard, which I am slowly amassing and authors like O’Reilly and Thompson are currently riding.

If we accept fantasy literature as a prog genre (Alan Garner, Richard Adams, JRR Tolkien), what can be said for science fiction? I have read a fair amount of SF over the years and witnessed a blurring of the boundary between SF and fantasy and though there’s an obvious association between Michael Moorcock and Hawkwind, Hawkwind’s brand of space rock was never really prog; on the other hand, William Burroughs may have had an influence on the thinking of Soft Machine but he was never really a science fiction writer. I read most of the SF classics and some, like Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, appeared on my reading list because of my nascent appreciation for progressive rock. Lyrically, the song appears to have absolutely nothing to do with the novel but Heinlein’s pro-military opinions were aired by characters within the book and there’s a possibility that Anderson and Squire were responding to Heinlein’s view with their own positive outlook; Yours is no Disgrace, also from The Yes Album is an anti-war song and it’s not unreasonable to imagine members of Yes reading SF.

Rick Wakeman was an avid Jules Verne fan but was Verne’s output really science fiction. It can’t be disputed that Verne was a strong influence on the genre and he wrote about emerging technologies and incorporated the cutting-edge scientific thinking of the time. I’d accept that Verne was the grandfather of science fiction but I think his novels were basically books about exploration, with Journey to the Centre of the Earth describing an expedition but also taking readers on a journey through geological time. This suggests to me that Wakeman was not necessarily inspired by the strictly scientific aspect of the work but more by the possibilities of musical adaptation of a good story. No Earthly Connection is more new age than SF but Out There, which revisited the quest for the origins of all music after a hiatus of 26 years, does come across more as science fiction. I saw Wakeman touring both No Earthly Connection (1976) and Out There (2003) and the latter struck me as a piece of science fiction theatre, mainly because of the NASA footage and a steampunk graphical representation of the spaceship.

My favourite SF authors are JG Ballard and Ursula Le Guin, who approach the genre from very different angles. Ballard wrote about the ‘deep undercurrents’ of the present, exposing a dystopian psychogeography and his writings influenced post-punk synthesizer bands which was in tune with the feelings circulating around the concrete walkways of Sheffield’s Park Hill estate. I first came across Le Guin through her Earthsea fantasy trilogy (at the time) and then got caught up in her interconnected SF worlds of the Hainish Cycle. Her almost academic anthropological writing makes her stands apart from others (her family background) but her portrayal of gender and race put her firmly in the progressive bracket. I personally think of Le Guin’s twin worlds of Anarres and Urras (from The Dispossessed) when I listen to Felona e Sorona by Le Orme but Peter Hammill’s lyrics for the English language recording Felona and Sorona suggest some form of supernatural Being holds responsibility for the two planets, a major detour from Le Guin. In fact, progressivo Italiano has a few science fiction-themed albums including Per... un Mondo di Cristallo by Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno (RRR) about the anguish felt by an astronaut when he finds that humankind has disappeared on his return to earth. Van der Graaf Generator acknowledge the influence of science fiction on the sleeve notes of The least we can do is wave to each other with a credit for reading matter: Asimov/Donleavy (JP Donleavy is not an SF writer!) and the epic Childhood Faith in Childhood’s End, the Hammill nod to Arthur C Clarke on Still Life where he ponders the evolutionary course of humankind.

Robots are currently very topical. There’s a great deal of current interest in artificial intelligence from poker playing computers to television series and now London’s Science Museum has opened a major Robots exhibition. One of the classic SF books was a series of short stories, published as I, Robot by Isaac Asimov with its ‘Three laws of robotics’: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Asimov may have been a successful scientist but I always thought his writing was like cowboys in outer space, and that includes his best work, the Foundation trilogy. I, Robot is actually a whodunit played out in a future where our lives are enhanced by the presence of robots. I Robot by the Alan Parsons Project is inspired by the book but the music is far from stimulating. I don’t own any of their albums, I’d not class the Project as prog and whereas I’d normally lump them in with art-rock, this particular release varies from competent AOR to almost disco; it goes without saying that it’s well produced. The instrumental tracks bookending the work are the best, though the rhythm machine drumming (is it Stuart Tosh?) however appropriate for the subject matter, detracts from some decent, keyboard dominated pieces.

ELP may have trodden familiar tropes about the future of mankind in Karn Evil 9 but the AI is a computer, not a robot; Radiohead may have referenced depressed robot Marvin from spoof SF The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on OK Computer with Paranoid Android; but only Pat Metheny has built a robot orchestra for his backing band on his Orchestrion album. Despite the technological innovations associated with progressive rock, I don’t think technology-heavy science fiction has had any particular influence on prog. Rather, it’s strong stories and key philosophical ideas which have inspired artists to push musical boundaries.